Neville Goddard on 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read 1 Thessalonians 4 in context

Scripture Focus

11And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;

12That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

Biblical Context

Paul instructs believers to cultivate quietness, do their own work, and labor with their hands so they may live honestly toward others and lack nothing.

Neville's Inner Vision

To Neville's ear, this call to quiet, to tend your own business, to labor with your hands, sounds as a command to inner sovereignty. The quiet is not a retreat from life but the stable, vigilant state of awareness in which you refuse to be buffeted by fear or gossip. When you imagine yourself already walking honestly toward the 'without,' you no longer seek approval from without; you prove it by the quality of your inner attention and your consistent, self-respecting acts. Your external conditions will circle into alignment as you accept the I AM as your sole source, and as you regard work not as a duty but as a field for creation. So you practice by assuming the feeling of a self-reliant, unobtrusive personality; you revise any sense of lack by dwelling in the certainty of abundance—the self-reliant life you see in your imagination is the life you live. The verse teaches you to live inwardly first, and your world follows.

Practice This Now

Assume the state now: you are quietly at work, competent and sufficient. Then revise any worry by feeling the reality of having all you need as you go about your day.